In Australia there is presently a severe drought and many cities are facing severe water shortages. This results in the imposition of various restrictions including a prohibition on garden watering.
For this reason, reuse of “grey” water is being strongly promoted. Greywater comprises water from a shower, a sink, a bath tub, a laundry etc that is not potable but is still clean enough for garden use. This is in contrast to “black” water which includes sewage and is unsuitable for garden use.
One source of greywater that can be reused is sink water. It is envisaged that many liters of water could be collected and reused as greywater from the sink.
It is known to modify the plumbing from the sink to the sewerage/septic to provide a diverter valve that can be turned to divert the water from the sewerage/septic to the garden. A hose is normally attached to the diverter valve such that water can be diverted through the hose and into a garden bed etc. A disadvantage with this arrangement is the expense in installing a diverter valve. Another disadvantage is that it is sometimes not possible to install a diverter valve. For instance, many units, townhouses and the like do not allow installation of a diverter valve. Also, the valve can only divert water to “downstream” areas and is therefore not particularly suitable for watering hanging pots etc.
It is known to provide a bowl or bucket in the sink to collect greywater for reuse. However, these are not very satisfactory because the bowl or bucket is usually rounded while the sink is usually somewhat rectangular which means that much of the sink volume cannot be used. As most buckets will hold 9 L of water, the size of the bucket is such that it can not be properly used in a sink because it will strike the spout or taps, or the spout/tap has a design which does not allow water to flow from the spout into the bucket unless the bucket is tipped to one side which defeats the purpose. For this reason, bowls are much more popular but when the bowl is full, it is quite difficult to hold the bowl (this usually requires two hands) and to carefully walk through the kitchen and through the door to empty the bowl into the garden. It is not uncommon to spill the greywater. If the bowl is large, the weight can be quite considerable especially for older people.
Most bowls will usually only hold about 4 L which requires the bowl to be emptied several times.
Another problem with the use of bowls or buckets in the sink is that it is difficult to release unwanted water down the plug hole of the sink. It is necessary to lift and tip the bucket which can be quite heavy.
It will be clearly understood that, if a prior art publication is referred to herein, this reference does not constitute an admission that the publication forms part of the common general knowledge in the art in Australia or in any other country.